


A New Direction

by Passions



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV), Once Upon a Time in the Midlands
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-06-02
Updated: 2013-06-02
Packaged: 2017-12-13 17:54:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 8,217
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/827148
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Passions/pseuds/Passions
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Belle is friends with Shirley and sees the events of OUaTitM go down. After the end of the movie, Jimmy decides he wants to return home and Belle is the one to help him.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

Belle laughed quietly to herself as she watched her friends on the television. Carol had been asked to appear on some chat show and she had, predictably, taken the opportunity to gain a larger audience for her complaints about her semi-estranged husband. Belle didn’t think Charlie was too bothered by it though. Despite Carol’s impatience with his current choice of ambition - becoming a famous country and western singer - she still cared for him and he knew it. He wouldn’t mind going on the show if it made Carol happy. The thought made Belle smile.

She laughed as Charlie came on singing a song he had probably just made up to Carol and smiled again as Shirley came out with the kids. They had asked Belle to join them on the show, and she had considered it, but she wasn’t quite a part of their family. They were the closest friends she had in Nottingham, but she’d only been there a couple of years and close to them as she was, Carol and Shirley’s families seemed to effectively be one family. Belle was just a friend.

It wasn’t something Belle was upset about. She had no doubts that she’d eventually mesh with them just as well as they already did with each other. But considering the two families had been close for most of the adults’ lives and the full lives of all the kids, Belle figured a bit more than two years would be necessary to get herself fully enmeshed. And she hadn’t been able to get the day off of work anyways. She had taped the show and put it on when she got home from her shift at the library.

As far as Belle was aware, the two families weren’t actually related, but she supposed the familiarity they exhibited might grow up over a lifetime. She didn’t really have any personal experience to relate it to. She’d grown up in Melbourne, Australia a single child. Her parents doted on her, but she didn’t have much extended family. She’d had some friends growing up, but she had always been a bookish child and was content to keep her own company most of the time. She’d always loved England growing up, probably due to all her stories. Who wouldn’t love the country of King Arthur and Robin Hood? So she had moved to London after she had finished University, graduating with a degree in English and Library Sciences. 

She’d only been in London for a year before moving to St. Ives. She’d had a difficult time finding a job, and had been completely unsuccessful in finding a position in a library. So when one of her friends had said she was moving back to her hometown of St. Ives, near Huntingdon, and offered Belle a place to stay for a couple of months, Belle had leapt at the chance. She’d found a position at a library, and she appreciated being away from the constant rush of London. Almost a year after moving to St. Ives, Belle returned to Melbourne after learning that her mother was dying of cancer. She’d been there for her mum’s last eight months. 

She’d stayed another two months before returning to St. Ives due to fighting with her father. They had very similarly explosive temperaments when they were hurt and they were both hurting a great deal after her mum’s death. It was a recipe for disaster. Belle knew they’d be able to reconcile eventually, but they’d both been too raw at the time, so Belle had gone back to England.

It didn’t take long before Belle couldn’t stand to be in the place she’d lived before her mother’s death, so she gave in her final resignation at the library, said goodbye to her friend, packed up all the stuff she wanted to take with her, and drove. She eventually stopped in Nottingham, for no particular reason. Probably Robin Hood guiding her subconsciously. She’d rented a flat and that night, completely by chance, she’d wound up in the bar Carol worked at, and they were hiring. She’d sat and chatted with Carol, giving most of her life’s story. Just before she’d left Carol had told her to apply to work there. Belle had done so and she’d been offered the job the next day. She’d taken it and Carol had immediately taken Belle under her wing. She’d been friends with Carol and Shirley ever since. 

Six months after her move to Nottingham, Belle had taken a second job as head librarian of one of the local libraries. With the extra money she’d moved closer to the library. It took her a bit further from Carol and Shirley as well as from the bar she still worked most nights at, but being a librarian was her dream, so she didn’t mind too much. She was very contented with her life as it currently stood.

Turning her head back to the tv, Belle figured her life was about to get even better. Dek was proposing to Shirley and Belle was already looking forward to the wedding, not that it would change much; Dek, Shirley, and Marlene were effectively a family already with or without marriage. But Belle’s excitement faded as she watched Shirley’s face fall and tears gather in her eyes. She wasn’t surprised, then, at the rejection. Belle knew Shirley loved Dek dearly, but public proposals were a nerve-wracking event for anyone. 

She sighed and switched the tv off, heading to bed for the night. She resolved to take the next day off and check on her friend.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When Belle got to Shirley’s place the next morning Dek and the older kids had left for work and Charlie had left to take the younger kids to school. Belle made some tea and then joined her friends in the living room.

Shirley was curled up in one corner of the sofa and Carol sat next to her, so Belle folded herself into the large armchair across from them. 

“So, how are you doing?” Belle asked softly.

Shirley shrugged and smiled. “I’m alright, really. I mean, I feel awful about saying no to him like that. I’m not even sure why I did honestly.”

“Well, that kind of pressure can hardly be conducive to comfort and a good frame of mind. Had you ever discussed it before?”

Shirley shook her head. “Not really. I mean, I suppose it seems an obvious direction for us to go, though. And it’s not even that I don’t want to marry him. It was just … a lot.”

Carol rubbed her shoulder. “Course it was darling. Bloody idiot shoulda thought to ask you first.”

Shirley sighed. “I do love him. So much.”

Belle smiled. “We know that. And so does he, really. Remind him though. He’ll probably be a bit worried right now.”

Shirley laughed. “He does worry easily. No, you’re right, it’ll be-”

She was cut off as Charlie walked into the room, wringing his hands and looking pointedly between Carol and the hallway. He clearly wanted to talk to her alone, but she wasn’t having it.

“Well what d’you want man? Speak up!” 

Charlie sighed and rubbed his face. “He’s back. Jimmy. He’s come back. Found him in my trunk this morning.”

There was silence for a few moments as Carol and Charlie both looked warily at Shirley, who merely appeared stupefied by the information.

Belle, though, was confused, so she was the one to break the quiet. “Who is Jimmy?”

Everyone turned to look at her in mild surprise before Carol and Charlie sat on the sofa with Shirley and faced Belle. Carol, predictably, was the one to explain.

“Jimmy’s my brother, well, foster brother really. And her ex-husband.” Here she pointed at Shirley. “Marlene’s father, too. But he up and left a number of years ago. Took himself up to Glasgow, and Lord knows what he’s been doing since. And now he’s back. What for?” She turned to Charlie but he only shrugged.

“Oh Shirley, I’m so sorry. I never knew you’d been divorced.”

Shirley shook her head. “You couldn’t could you? I never told you. I don’t like to talk about it much. Besides, it was a while ago, and I’ve got Dek now.” She smiled, but it was a bit tremulous. 

They moved off the topic of Jimmy and just chatted about everything and nothing for a few hours. Belle made sandwiches for lunch. Dek came home far earlier than usual and collapsed into the reclining armchair. He immediately began ranting and arguing with Carol and then Shirley. After blaming the chat show and Shirley’s rejection of him for Jimmy’s presence in town, Shirley abandoned the living room for her bedroom, Carol following after her. 

Belle got up more slowly and addressed Dek before leaving the room. “Look, it doesn’t seem like anyone is happy about this. You acting like this isn’t going to help anybody.” He ignored her.

Charlie followed her out of the room and went for the front door. “I’m going to go pick him up.”

Belle’s eyes widened and flickered to the stairs. “You’re not going to bring him here are you?”

“No, no. I’ll take him to my place. But if I leave him he’ll end up sleeping outside tonight. Or breaking in to something.”

Belle’s hand flew up to cover her mouth. “That’s terrible!”

Charlie just shrugged and walked out the door.

Belle sighed deeply and went to join Shirley and Carol.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Belle meets Jimmy. Jimmy and Dek have their altercation at the bar.

Belle had heard about Dek’s run in with Jimmy - and the crashing of Dek’s beloved car, Baby, that had facilitated the meeting - many times since Dek talked about it almost non-stop. But it wasn’t until a few nights after Jimmy first came to town that Belle so much as saw him. 

She was working at the bar with Carol while Charlie played and sang on stage and the others sat about drinking and chatting and dancing. Belle was wiping down some glasses when she heard Carol exclaim loudly and Belle watched her lean over the counter to hug the man on the other side and heard him mutter something that sounded like “sister”.

Carol pulled back from the embrace and smacked him, berating him for not coming to see her sooner and if that wasn’t proof of their relationship, Belle didn’t know what would be.

“Bloody hell! Aren’t you pleased to see me?” His voice was nice. Low and lilting. He had a Scottish accent and Belle wondered if he’d had that accent before being put into a foster home with Carol or if he’d only acquired it over his last few years in Glasgow. The former seemed more likely.

“I thought you were dead.” Carol said. It sounded offhand, but Belle figured there was more truth in those words than Carol would be willing to own up to.

“Well I came back, didn’t I?”

He was a relatively small man; given Dek’s fits of panic Belle had assumed Jimmy would be a bit more physically imposing. He was certainly taller than Belle or Shirley, both women being rather petite and not much over five feet tall, but he was still quite a lot shy of Dek’s more than six foot frame. He did carry himself, though, with a great deal more confidence than she had ever seen in Dek. He was slim and the leather jacket he wore added a fair bit of bulk to his frame. His hair was medium brown and left long enough to brush at his shoulders, his nose was sharp, and his brown eyes were warm as he looked at his foster sister and smiled.

He was handsome, Belle decided, even with the delinquent image he was projecting thanks to the leather jacket, worn jeans, and low-heeled boots he was wearing. Belle didn’t usually go for such a stereotypically ‘bad-boy’ image, but somehow he made it work.

She turned her gaze back to the glass in her hand, listening to the conversation without looking at either Carol or her brother.

“Are you alright, duck?” Carol asked.

“I’m alright duck. Well alright duck.”

“God. You won the lottery or something?”

“Just about baby.”

Belle looked up to see him holding a wad of bills which hinted pretty strongly that whatever he’d been up to in Glasgow was probably on the wrong side of legal. Belle looked back down and picked up another glass as Jimmy gave some money to his sister after minor protests on her part and then back up again as she heard Carol call her name. 

“Belle, I’d like you to meet my brother, Jimmy. Jimmy, this is Belle. She came to town a couple of years ago.”

Belle smiled and held her hand out to him. “Hi.”

He smiled back as he shook her hand. Much as he wasn’t a big man, his hand engulfed hers quite completely, dry and warm, and his grip was nicely firm. “Belle. That’s French for something. Beautiful, isn’t it?” 

He quite obviously ran his eyes up and down her form and she could feel his study of her, like a physical warmth rolling over her face, neck, and collarbone before caressing lightly over her simple blue lace dress. It felt nice, his gaze, but she rolled her eyes and pulled her hand back. “You know what? No one’s ever mentioned that before.” She drawled sarcastically.

He just grinned unrepentantly at her and she couldn’t help but grin back. He turned slightly to dash out his cigarette and look behind him and then he turned completely around, leaning back against the bar, everything on Belle and Carol’s side of it forgotten. Shirley stood less than ten feet from him, just staring.

Belle moved further down the counter to where the bar met the wall so that she could see Jimmy’s face. He was completely fixated on Shirley and his face was full of warmth. He was clearly very happy to see her. Belle didn’t understand how he had ever managed to leave if he cared for Shirley as much as the look on his face said he did.

But then the moment was ruined as Dek noticed the new arrival; Belle wasn’t particularly fond of the way he tried to call Shirley to him as if she were a dog. When the calling didn’t work he stalked over to the bar. Belle noticed that the music had stopped playing and she cursed Charlie for it. Bloody man was too nosy for anyone’s good. The confrontation between Jimmy and Dek was already going to be uncomfortable, but now they had a whole bar as an audience.

“Dek, I want to go home.” Shirley was drunk and in that moment she sounded very small and confused. Despite her small stature, Shirley didn’t usually try to hide away from confrontation like she now seemed to be attempting to do inside Dek’s jacket. She was certainly one of the braver people Belle knew and the fact that she was willing to just give in to the awkward situation and leave the bar was a good indicator that Jimmy affected her strongly. Whether in a positive or negative way, Belle wasn’t sure, but it was strong. Unresolved issues, probably, given his haste in leaving all those years ago.

“What, because of that wazzock? No bloody way babes.” Dek walked up to Jimmy and, after taking a moment to visibly gather his courage, looked him in the face and asked, “Why can’t you just leave us alone, eh? Eh?”

Belle was caught between thinking he was an idiot for being the one to start the confrontation and being proud of him for standing up to a man he was so clearly afraid of.”

“Just take your new gay haircut and flip off.”

Idiot. She was going with idiot.

“Oi. You can talk, peanut-head.” Carol jumped into the conversation, as she was wont to do.

“It’s alright, Carol. I was leaving anyway.” Jimmy’s voice was smooth and calm and Belle couldn’t help but be glad that he’d decided to take the high road this time. From what she’d heard, he wasn’t exactly known for it.

Given that small acquiescence, Dek apparently felt the need to play Alpha and attempted to make his victory clear by trying to physically force Jimmy out the door, a movement the smaller man resisted. But Jimmy remained calm and didn’t fight back as he left the bar and Belle was glad of it. She had no doubts Jimmy could have beat Dek if he’d decided to.

Carol followed her brother out of the building and Dek frowned as he faced the disappointed faces of his friends. “What?” He slumped in front of the bar. 

“You know,” Belle started, “If you’re worried about losing Shirley, and you are, it’s terribly obvious, acting like a git isn’t going to win you any points.”

He just glared sullenly at her and turned away.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shirley comes to Belle for advice. Belle has a chat with Jimmy.

The day after the incident at the bar, Belle had to work at the library into the afternoon. When she got home shortly after 3pm, she was surprised to find Shirley sitting outside the house, her eyes red. Belle hurried to get the door open and ushered her friend inside; it wasn’t a warm day and she had no idea how long Shirley had been outside for.

She shut the door, hanging up her blue woolen peacoat and taking Shirley’s windbreaker from her to hang up as well. She sat Shirley on the couch and bustled into the kitchen to put the kettle on. She went into her room and changed the green shirt she’d worn to work for a fuzzy blue sweater and then fetched a knitted throw blanket from the linen cupboard while she waited for the water to boil.

“How did you get here anyway, Shirley?”

“Bus.”

“How long have you been waiting?”

Shirley gave a watery smile as she draped the throw over her legs. “Only about fifteen minutes.”

Belle made a sound of distress. “I’m so sorry I wasn’t here.”

“Well you were hardly expecting me to show up, were you.”

Belle grinned as the kettle boiled and she crossed into the kitchen area to make some tea and bring it back to the couch.

“So what happened?” Belle’s face was back to serious calm which was good because Shirley’s immediately crumpled.

“I don’t know what I was thinking. God, I was so stupid.”

“Hush. Just start from the beginning.”

Shirley took a deep breath. “It’s been such a long day. Dek got home from the shop and he was all worked up about something, I thought he was just being silly when he ran upstairs. But then some men came to the door, looking for Jimmy. I told them I hadn’t seen him in 3 years but they pushed into the house anyways. They were only upstairs for a couple of minutes and they left easily. But they broke into my home. They scared me and Marlene and Dek was absolutely distraught.”

“Oh darling. I’m so sorry.” Belle hugged Shirley to her and rubbed her shoulder through the creme woolen sweater she was wearing, hoping to help warm her up. “But how is that your fault? It was nothing to do with you.”

Shirley pulled away from Belle’s embrace. “Because I went back to him. After all that - which was clearly because of Jimmy - and with Dek so upset … I left the house and I went to see Jimmy.”

“Oh, Shirley -”

“I know - I know. I just …” a sob escaped her. “Jimmy was my world for so long, highschool sweethearts, you know? And then the two of us and Marlene. I missed him so much when he left, and I think - I think maybe I’ve never stopped missing him. I thought I had … when I found Dek … but now Jimmy’s back and - and now everything is back. All of my feelings about him are back. So I went to talk to him.”

Belle sighed and pulled her friend back against her shoulder as Shirley started to cry in earnest, choking out the rest of her story between sobs.

“He told me the he was sorry - and that he never really wanted to leave - that we were too young - we would have broken up - even if he’d stayed - that he wanted us back - he still wanted to - to be with me - that he’d wait around if - if I still felt something for him. He said he was sorry. But then -” she collapsed into tears again.

“Then what? Shirley what happened then?”

Shirley murmured something but Belle couldn’t hear.

“What was that?”

“Dek got Baby back.” It was still barely a whisper, but Belle heard it and winced.

“Oh, Shirley.” She sighed deeply.

Shirley took a moment to try to compose herself. “He’d taken the kids out for a ride through the park. Happened to come to a stop where Jimmy and I were sitting, saw us together.” She looked at Belle and her eyes widened slightly. “We weren’t doing anything, I swear. Just hugging.”

Belle nodded and tried to soothe her friend. “It’s alright. What happened then?”

Shirley sighed. “I guess he asked the kids to get out of the car because they did. And then he drove off. And then I took the kids home. And then I came here. Why did I do it, Belle? Why did I go see him?”

Belle looked at her pointedly. “Shirley, you’ve already acknowledged to yourself, and to him, that he still means something to you. That you still feel something for him. You’re going to have to figure out exactly what he means to you and what that means for your relationship with Dek.” She sighed. “I know how much you care for Dek. And I can see how much Jimmy’s presence is effecting you. But I can’t really help you with this. It’s something you have to figure out for yourself. I can’t tell you the right course of action.”

Shirley nodded and wiped most of the tears off of her face. “You’re right, you’re right. I’ll think about it.” She looked out the window at the darkening sky. “I should probably get back to Marlene.”

Belle nodded. “I’ll drive you.

When Belle dropped Shirley off at home, she thanked her before quickly collecting Marlene and crossing the street to Carol’s. Belle thought about joining them, but when she noticed Charlie’s car, she decided on a different order of business.

Unsurprisingly, Charlie’s house was quiet and mostly dark when she pulled up in front of it. But there was a light on which meant Jimmy was not at Carol’s, meaning Belle was right in thinking he wouldn’t have been invited. He answered the door quite promptly when she knocked.

“Well, well, well. If it isn’t the Beauty from the Bar.”

She rolled her eyes and pushed into the house. “I need to talk to you.”

He spread his arms wide as he followed her into the living room, a bottle of beer hanging from his right hand. “By all means. Talk.” He seemed completely at ease as he smiled and sprawled out on the couch.

Belle remained standing, not planning on staying long enough to need to get comfortable - and frankly, given the mess, she wasn’t sure she’d be able to get comfortable anyways.

“Look, I know it’s not my place, but you’re putting an awful lot of pressure on Shirley, coming back here like this and trying to push your way back into her life.”

The easy grin vanished from his face very quickly at the mention of Shirley. “You’re right. It’s none of your fucking business. It’s my life and Shirley’s and it’s got fuck all to do with you.”

Belle’s gaze hardened. “It may not be my place to tell either of you what to do, you’re adults, but Shirley is my friend and so is Dek which means that you messing with their lives has got something to do with me.”

Jimmy scoffed. “That prick took over my life, my family, and you’re expecting me to feel bad about messing with him?”

“Dek only took over what you seem to think is your life after you up and left it behind. And because you’re jealous, you’re screwing up the lives of everyone I’m assuming you care about. Why hasn’t that occurred to you? You’re not just hurting Dek, you’re hurting Shirley and Marlene and even Carol. Is that what you want?” Her voice had risen in volume as she’s been talking and she took a moment to calm herself again. “And you can’t just blame this on Dek. You’re acting like a child who leaves a toy in the playground and then gets angry when another kid picks it up. Grow up and take some responsibility.”

Jimmy was suddenly up off the couch and striding towards her, but she thought it rather unlikely that he would hit her. She was right. He stopped very close in front of her so that he could take full advantage of the half a foot in height he had over her.

“I don’t have to listen to this from you. You’ve got nothing to do with any of this. How about you just run off home now. I’ll do what I like.”

Belle just rolled her eyes and he seemed a bit angrier at her utter lack of fear. “Fine. Don’t bother looking at all of your problems. Keep going like this and everything’s just going to get more messed up than it already is. You might want to remember that your past meant three men breaking in to Shirley’s house today.” 

She shook her head and walked back towards the front door, but stopped as she came up to it. The man was clearly dealing with some issues and she couldn’t stop herself from thinking that he might actually make himself worth something if he had some help. She sighed and pulled a pad of paper and a pen from her purse, scribbling down her phone number and name before going back to the living room. She didn’t look at Jimmy as she placed the piece of paper on a cabinet just inside the doorway.

“Maybe you need someone to talk through your issues with. If you want, you can call me and I can listen.” She shrugged. “Might be it could help you.”

He hadn’t moved since she left the room the first time, nor did he respond to her comment, and so she left.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aftermaths of visiting Scottish thugs and Marlene’s birthday. Also to be noted, we’ve now basically reached the end of the movie and will be moving entirely into AU stuff now.

Belle was still disconcerted from her talk with Jimmy when she went into work at the bar the next night. She sincerely hoped he wouldn’t show up. She hurried into the staff room and hung up her coat, taking an extra moment to compose herself by brushing imaginary lint from her jeans and blouse. 

When she made her way behind the bar, Belle was slightly unnerved by how tense Carol was, wiping glasses and setting them down to rest with a deal more force than necessary. Clearly something had happened and Belle was willing to bet Jimmy had something to do with it.

“Carol?” Belle asked softly. 

The older woman seemed surprised as she looked up, clearly not having heard Belle approach, which was somewhat strange as the heels on Belle’s brown leather boots didn’t exactly lend themselves to quiet. 

But Carol smiled at her, even if the smile didn’t quite reach her eyes. “Alright love?”

“I’m fine,” Belle said softly, “But how are you? What’s happened?”

Carol took a deep breath and looked around the bar. It was still early in the evening so there weren’t a great number of people in yet. She went back to her vigorous glass wiping as she talked which meant whatever it was irritated her.

“Those men that were bothering Shirley yesterday, looking for Jimmy? They were over at Charlie’s this morning. Trashed the house completely and beat him around a bit.”

Belle gasped. “Is Charlie okay?”

Carol brushed the question off. “He’s fine. A bit bruised, but he’ll be alright. Can’t say the same for his music collection though.”

“Oh Carol, I’m so sorry.”

Carol shrugged and then snorted. “‘Course, Jimmy weren’t there. Two houses they’ve been looking for him at and he’s never there. Had a row with him this mornin’ about it, but he can’t take the responsibility. Bloody idiot. Nothin’s ever his fault so far as he’s concerned. Always has someone else to put the blame on. Blamed Dek this time.”

“Dek? What does Dek have to do with it?”

“Apparently Dek told ‘em where to find Jimmy. I believe it, and Baby took some damage for it, but the point is they were looking for Jimmy. They’re only here because of ‘im. Every time he comes ‘round he brings some sort of nasty business with ‘im. This time it’s ‘cause of some money he stole from them. Money they probably stole from someone else. He took it with ‘im when Charlie kicked ‘im out this mornin’.” 

“So Jimmy’s gone then?” Belle asked. She was glad that all the drama he’d brought on her small group of friends would go away, but she was left somewhat sad that his connection with his family seemed so broken. It was painful to leave when those relationships were in such disrepair.

“I hope he is. It’s not like he’s got many friends around he could stay with, is it?” Carol folded her arms across her chest.

“Are you okay with this?” Belle asked. “Are you going to miss him?”

“‘Course I’m gonna miss ‘im. He was my brother for all we didn’t have the same parents. But I don’t like the man he’s become, and I’d rather keep that away from the kids.”

Belle nodded in understanding and her friend into a hug. “It’s the right thing to do, Carol.”

Carol relaxed into the embrace for only a moment before pulling back and wiping at tears she would never acknowledge existed. “I know, I know.”

“So things can just go back to normal now?”

“Not really. Dek left Shirley this morning. Well, I say left. She encouraged him to go after she heard about him telling those men where to find Jimmy. I’m not proud of what Jimmy’s done, but Dek deliberately put ‘im in danger. I don’t think Shirley was too happy about that.”

Belle nodded. So it seemed their lives wouldn’t be quite returned to normal. But without Jimmy’s presence hopefully no new drama would show up. And in time they could get their lives back together. Belle really felt for her friends. She was quite shaken by this whole business and she was only on the peripheries of it. But she was helping Carol now and she resolved to talk to Shirley the next day if she didn’t turn up at the bar.

Belle helped Carol finish drying the glasses in silence and then set her cleaning rag down. She gave Carol another brief hug before the older woman turned to leave, her shift over. 

“You sure you’re going to be alright?”

Carol nodded and smiled more brightly. “I’ll be fine, thanks love. I’ll feel better for seein’ the kids again.”

Belle grinned and waved her off. If things weren’t quite back to normal yet, they were on their way. And while there was something in her that twinged at the loss of Jimmy’s presence in her life, she was content in knowing her friends would be happier for it.

When Belle got to Shirley’s house in the early afternoon she was expecting to be met at the door by her friend, probably in a rather forlorn mood given her older lover was gone and her more recent relationship seemed rocky at the very least. Belle was very surprised then to have her knock answered by the very man she thought had left town. And he had the audacity to grin at her. 

He let her in and told her Shirley was in the kitchen. A good glare from Belle stopped him from following her and he retreated to the living room, arms up in a gesture of peace.

Shirley was in the midst of preparing a salad as Belle walked into the kitchen, chopping up some carrots and radishes to add to the bowl of lettuce sitting on the counter. She looked up and smiled briefly at Belle before going back to the chopping.

Belle was completely unsure what Shirley was feeling at the moment about her current situation or how she would feel discussing it. Probably because Belle had already formed an idea of how Shirley would be feeling and acting and currently nothing was going according to script. Belle hoped trying to discuss things wouldn’t antagonise Shirley too greatly. 

“So,” she began slowly, “Dek’s gone then?”

Shirley’s chopping cut off abruptly before picking up again at a quicker pace. “Yeah, well, he put Jimmy in danger on purpose, so …”

Belle nodded. “So Jimmy’s staying here now, is he?”

Shirley nodded and raised her head again to give Belle a somewhat watery smile. “Yeah, and it’s been great.” Back to the chopping. “It’s going to be great. We’ll get more time together. And he’ll get to spend more time with Marlene. She can get to know him better.”

“And how is Marlene taking all of this?”

The knife faltered again. “Well, it’s a change, you know? It’ll take time to adjust. That’s normal. She doesn’t know him so well, you see. But she will. She will. And we’ll be good together. We’ll all be good together.” Shirley had stopped chopping and was just gripping the handle of the knife tightly in one hand while the other rested on the counter.

“Shirley,” Belle asked quietly, “Are you sure this is a good idea? It’s all rather fast isn’t it? Dek moving out and Jimmy moving in? And Marlene barely knows him.”

This time Shirley looked angry when she turned her face up from the cutting board and Belle knew she wasn’t going to change her friend’s mind today. “He’s her father. She should know him. She will know him, now. Now they’ll have time.” Shirley sighed and the anger dropped off of her face. “I know you’re just trying to help, Belle. But this is my family. And you don’t even know Jimmy. Just … we’ll be fine, alright?”

Belle just nodded and left soon after, but the last thing Shirley had said, that Belle didn’t know Jimmy, stuck with her. Because the problem, as far as Belle could see, was that she did know Jimmy and Shirley didn’t. Or rather, Shirley was allowing her happiness at the return of her old flame to cloud her judgement and her memories. She could remember his pleasantness in the last few days as well as all the times their relationship had been good in the past. But she was blatantly ignoring his shortcomings, the flaws in his character that allowed him to walk out on their previous relationship - on her and their child - in hopes they might have fixed themselves, even with evidence to the contrary. Because even if Belle hadn’t known Jimmy as long as any of the others here, she knew easily that his unwillingness to take responsibility for the actions of his pursuers, whoever they were, either at Shirley’s house or at Charlie’s was evidence of his continued immaturity. And it didn’t look like that was going to fix itself anytime soon, or without some significant catalyst.

Belle didn’t begrudge Shirley her desire for what seemed almost a fairytale ending, with hr prince returning to complete their family again so they might live happily ever after. Nor did she begrudge Jimmy his desire for a family; family was a precious thing and he didn’t seem to have much beyond the sphere of Carol and Shirley. 

But the relationship the two of them had formed was unhealthy. Jimmy was acting like a child and Shirley was going along with it while herself making incredibly rash decisions while too wrapped up in her own emotions to be able to properly see how uninterested Marlene was in anything to do with Jimmy. 

It would be obvious to anyone not emotionally compromised in the situation that the relationship was not going to last long and it wasn’t going to end well. But Shirley wasn’t yet willing to listen to reason and Jimmy sure as hell was not going to listen to what anyone else had to say. He was so closed off from everyone that he’d see any interference as a threat directly to him.

Belle decided to give them some space, hoping they might be able to work it out on their own. She’d try talking to Shirley again in a week or so.

Belle had to admit that she was slightly surprised, though very happy, to receive a phone call late on Marlene’s birthday only a few days later to inform her that she had been right, that Shirley and Jimmy had not worked out, but that it was all resolved with Jimmy back off to Glasgow and Dek home with Shirley and Marlene again. She chatted with Shirley for a while about how happy Shirley was to be back to normal with Dek and Marlene and she sang Happy Birthday to Marlene over the phone. She went to bed that night feeling decidedly more content than she had for a few weeks, but not without a small pinging in her conscience for the man who was once again alone - a state he clearly did not thrive in. But it wasn’t something she could fix so she resolved to try to let it go. Everything else was back to normal. She’d forget about Jimmy in time.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jimmy has thoughts and feelings and a discussion.

When he had taken Dek’s car and driven off, heading back to Glasgow, Jimmy had been angry. He’d been royally pissed off that he’s lost his family and his life again. He had been surprised when he passed his buddies on the road and for a while he had thought that he’d meet up with them again in Glasgow and go back to what he’d been doing before he’d ever watched Shirley turn down Dek’s proposal on that fucking talk show. Sure, maybe robbing for a living wasn’t the most glamorous lifestyle. But he’d been happy with it. Or at least he’d been content. Maybe. Fuck. He wasn’t so sure now.

Jimmy cursed as he lay back on the bed in the motel room he’d rented for the night. Even though a lot of things had gone wrong, he’d been happier in the couple of weeks he’d been in Nottingham than he could really remember being since he first left it more than three years ago. And he realized, as he lay in the dark, that he had enjoyed having family around him, even if it wasn’t perfect. And as much as he tried to stop it, he also came to the realization, as he lay alone in the room, that losing even that tiny glow of family and acceptance had … hurt. Hurt more than he would ever have expected.

He had lost the one good thing in his life, and he’d lost it for good this time. Jimmy knew that he wasn’t the smartest guy around, never had been. But even he could understand that going back to Nottingham would gain him absolutely nothing.

So that left him with what to do now. And he had absolutely no idea. He could join up with the Glasgow boys again, though he had lost any desire he had once had for that sort of lifestyle. But he didn’t have much of a choice, did he? It wasn’t like a history of robbery really gave him any employable skills.

He cursed and stuffed his hands into his pockets as he thumped his head back against the pillow a few times, but stopped short when he felt a piece of paper in his hand. He leaned over to click the bedside lamp on before studying the scrap he was holding. 

It was her phone number. Shirley’s pretty barmaid friend who kept nosing her way into business that had nothing to do with her. Belle. But she had been right that he would mess things up with Shirley. Maybe she’d have some advice that could stop him continuing to be such a complete screw up. And she had said he could call her. Though that was probably just politeness or something. She seemed like the type of girl who would do things just because they were polite. Oh well, she’d offered so she could deal with the consequences.

He leaned over and carefully pressed the number into the bedside phone. It wasn’t until he was picking up the receiver that he even glanced at the clock. 12:30am. Shit. He’d clearly been laying around, mooning over family like an idiot for far longer than he had though. Normal people would be sleeping right now; normal people like Belle. He was about to hang up when someone answered on the other end.

“Hello?”

He could hear her take another breath in preparation to speak again before he managed to get any words out. “You - uh - You said if I ever needed to talk…”

There was a pause for a second where he assumed she was trying to figure out who was calling her before, “Jimmy.” She said his name so softly, almost sighed it. It was calming somehow. “Are you alright? I heard about Marlene’s birthday.”

He snorted. “Yeah, told you about that, did they?” It hurt, somehow, that she had heard about it from the others and not from him; that she had gotten their story before she heard his.

“They’re my friends, Jimmy, of course they told me.” There was an awkward pause before she spoke again. “So. You’ve gone then?”

“Aye,” he growled, “I’ve gone.” So she wanted him gone then. For some reason he couldn’t even begin to understand that thought cut at him more roughly than Shirley telling him to go, pierced him deeper than Shirley saying she’d always loved Dek more than him. And that didn’t make any sense. He barely knew Belle. Why should she have such a big impact on his useless fucking emotions.

His voice was filled with anger rather than the pain he refused to acknowledge when he opened his mouth again. “I’ve taken myself off. Dunno where to, but at least I won’t be such a fucking nuisance to you all anymore. Good riddance I suppose, eh?”

She sighed deeply. “Nobody thinks that, Jimmy. I’m not going to pretend that your actions weren’t problematic, you made a lot of mistakes. But nobody was happy to see you go the way you did.”

“Yeah, sure.” That was certainly a lie. Marlene had seemed pretty happy to see him gone and Dek had been fucking thrilled. Even Shirley and Carol didn’t seem too cut up about it. “Doesn’t matter now anyway. I’m gone. So they can just forget anything ever happened.”

“And what are you going to do Jimmy?”

He shrugged, though she wouldn’t be able to see it. “Dunno. I’ll find something.”

“Isn’t there anything you want to do?”

He debated saying anything, because of course there was only one thing he really wanted. But he figured he’d need to be at least mostly honest if he really wanted help, and it wasn’t such a big thing to give up. “Luv, the only thing I want is to go home again.”

“Oh, Jimmy, I don’t think-”

“I’m not stupid, Belle, I know I can’t go home. Just said I wanted …”

There was a fuzzy silence over the line for a few moments.

“Why did you leave?”

“What are you talking about? You heard about me and Dek, he fucking punched me, and you know about everything earlier than that.”

“No - no, I meant the first time. Why did you leave them the first time?”

Jimmy took a deep breath and let it out slowly as he thought. “Well, I was just a kid, wasn’t I?”

“Maybe when Marlene was born you were. But she’s twelve now, Jimmy. And you only left a few years ago. What changed?”

Jimmy cursed and got off the bed, pacing as far as the cord on the phone would let him. “I don’t know. It’s hard, raising a kid. Easier when they’re little. They’re easy to please then. But later you have to start teaching them things. I don’t know what to teach a kid. Shirley and I argued more. She didn’t think I was being a good role model to Marlene. What the fuck does that even mean anyways? She kept saying I wasn’t around enough. She was probably right.

“Work was hard to come by. Just little things here and there, always moving around, always took me away from home. Honestly I wasn’t even looking for something permanent. I just wanted to be out of the way.

“I started hanging out with a couple of guys. When they said they were leaving town, going up to Glasgow, it sounded like a golden opportunity. No more responsibilities. Fucking perfect. So I went.”

Her voice was quiet as she replied to that. “Did you at least tell Shirley before you left?”

“I left her a note.”

She was so quiet he almost missed her soft, “Oh, hell.”

“Well I didn’t want a screaming match, did I? She’d only tell me about duty and responsibility, but I’m no good at that sort of shit anyway. So I left her a note telling her where I’d gone and why.”

“What about Carol?”

He shrugged. “Assumed Shirley’d tell her.” 

“And you didn’t think it would bother them? That they would miss you?”

“Well I wasn’t doing any good there, was I? What would it matter if I left or not?”

A pause. “And now you want to come back.

“Aye. I - I miss it Belle. I miss my family.” 

“Even after Marlene’s birthday?”

“Well it’s not my fault that git’s trying to break up my family.”

“Jimmy…” she sighed. “Jimmy, it’s not your family anymore. Not in the way you mean, anyways. You gave that up when you left the first time.”

“Don’t be stupid. Marlene’s still my daughter.” 

Belle sighed deeply again and he knew he was disappointing her somehow, but he didn’t know how or how to fix it. “By blood, sure she’s still your daughter. But families are a lot more complicated than that Jimmy. You walked out on them. You can’t just take them back now that you’ve decided you want them.

“Even if you did come back, what would you do? You’re not going to be welcome with Carol and Charlie any time soon, and you won’t be welcome with Shirley and Dek for even longer than that. You’d have to get a flat, get a job, have your own life apart from all of them for a good long while. It’s just not a good idea right now.”

“And what else am I supposed to do?”

“How about getting a job and making a life for yourself wherever you are?”

“Right, with all the life skills I’ve got that should be easy. Fat lot of help you’ve been.” He knew it wasn’t fair for him to be yelling at her. Hell, he’d just acknowledged to himself he couldn’t go back. She wasn’t telling him anything new. But he couldn’t seem to stop himself. “Well don’t worry about it. Fuck if I know what I’m gonna do but I’ll make sure I don’t come back and bother you lot again.”

“Jimmy, please.”

He wanted to hang up on her. But it sounded like she was on the verge of crying and for some reason he just couldn’t make himself hang up on that. “What?”

She took a deep breath. “You’re important to your family, Jimmy. To all of them. You shouldn’t exile yourself from Nottingham forever.”

“Didn’t sound to me like I was the one doing the exiling…”

He could hear muffled cursing and mumbling from her side of the line for a few minutes before she spoke into the phone agian. “Right. Here’s the deal. You can come back to Nottingham and stay with me. I’ve got an extra room. But only if you promise to get a job, get your own flat soon, and stay away from Shirley and Marlene and Dek. And probably from Carol and Charlie as well. The second you break those rules, I’m kicking you out and you can find your own way. And if your buddies end up at my place looking for you, you’re out on your own. So leave whatever it is they were looking for with them. Yes?”

He thought about it for a moment. “Yes, fine, I suppose.” He only had to comply with the rules until he got his flat and that shouldn’t take too long. She gave him her address and he placed the phone back in its cradle, strangely pleased with how the conversation had gone. Not nearly as awful as he’d been fearing, for the most part. He fell asleep dreaming of Nottingham and fixing his family properly this time.


End file.
